And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

In “Jonah Historically Regarded,” Ishmael presents us with a dazzling array of silly arguments for the factual basis of Jonah’s tale. Initially, his sarcastic justifications seem like a simple dismissal of people who sacrifice reason for faith. But as the chapter unfolds, we see Ishmael directing his scorn specifically at exegetists, or religious scholars, and those of the common flock naive enough to argue for historical fact in a literary text — Greek or Christian myth alike.

However, Ishmael does not argue against the truth of these stories. In fact, in “The Sermon,” Father Mapple gives a beautiful reading of the same story, steeped with truths of the human condition. By contrast, in “Jonah Historically Regarded,” Ishmael draws a clear distinction between factual truth and literary truth, criticizing only those who confuse the two.